Woods, Jennifer L.Pasold, Tracie L.Boateng, Beatrice A.Hensel, Devon J.2015-10-302015-10-302014-08-20Woods, J. L., Pasold, T. L., Boateng, B. A., & Hensel, D. J. (2014). Medical student self-efficacy, knowledge and communication in adolescent medicine. International Journal of Medical Education, 5, 165–172. http://doi.org/10.5116/ijme.53d3.7b302042 - 6372https://hdl.handle.net/1805/7300Objectives To evaluate student self-efficacy, knowledge and communication with teen issues and learning activities. Methods Data were collected during the 8-week pediatric rotation for third–year medical students at a local children’s hospital. Students completed a self-efficacy instrument at the beginning and end of the rotation; knowledge and communication skills were evaluated during standardized patient cases as part of the objective structured clinical examination. Self-efficacy, knowledge and communication frequencies were described with descriptive statistics; differences between groups were also evaluated utilizing two-sample t-tests. Results Self-efficacy levels of both groups increased by the end of the pediatric rotation, but students in the two-lecture group displayed significantly higher self-efficacy in confidentiality with adolescents (t(35)=-2.543, p=0.02); interviewing adolescents, assessing risk, sexually transmitted infection risk and prevention counseling, contraception counseling were higher with marginal significance. No significant differences were found between groups for communication; assessing sexually transmitted infection risk was marginally significant for knowledge application during the clinical exam. Conclusions Medical student self-efficacy appears to change over time with effects from different learning methods; this higher self-efficacy may increase future comfort and willingness to work with this high-risk, high-needs group throughout a medical career.en-USAttribution 3.0 United StatesMedical studentadolescent medicinestandardized patientsself-efficacymedical student self-efficacyknowledge and communication in adolescent medicineArticle